Summit Up 12-1-12: Where the apocalypse means no breakfast with Santa

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Good morning and welcome to Summit Up, the world's only daily column that's thinking about how, on this day in 1955, Rosa Parks refused to sit in the back of a Montgomery, Ala., bus, defying the segregationist laws of the south. How, ignoring risk, one woman stood up against the injustice of an entire people, a solitary voice for what is noble and right in the world.

It's an odd thought in contrast to the things we find ourselves worrying about - like how to tell a good story about holiday revelers dressed as Santa and Mrs. Claus racing down the streets of two different towns, or when the snow will fall so we can engage in that much-loved but illogical pursuit that draws so many people here, that infinite loop of ascents and descents that depends on water we don't have that people elsewhere in the world would be so fortunate to drink.

True, Millions of Summit Up Readers, we have heavy thoughts on the mind this morning - of a few local folks found deceased in their apartments, of those who don't have enough to eat this holiday season, and of the ongoing despair of Sandy's survivors.

How do you make a living and a difference at the same time, we wonder?

But these are dangerous thoughts, best reserved for a different day, when we are not head-deep in our somewhat-less-than-noble work, and certainly not when we have half a day off and can finally test out our new snowboard setup.

With the end of the world coming up on Dec. 21, 2012, there're a lot of things to fit in, and snowboarding is one of them. It's a pity, though, to think of all those breakfasts with Santa we stand to miss if the Mayan apocalypse really does hit. On the bright side, at least we wouldn't have to put out the spring magazine.